Indian Child Life by E W Deming

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Title: Indian Child Life

Author: Edwin Willard Deming
Therese O. Deming

Illustrator: Edwin Willard Deming

Release Date: May 8, 2010 [EBook #32301]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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INDIAN CHILD LIFE

WITH NUMEROUS FULL-PAGE COLOUR-PLATES AFTER PAINTINGS IN

WATER-COLOUR TOGETHER WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN BLACK-AND-WHITE

BY EDWIN WILLARD DEMING

AND WITH NEW STORIES

BY THERESE O. DEMING

NEW YORK

Copyright, 1899, by

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

PRINTED IN AMERICA

[Transcriber's note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright
on this publication was renewed. Table of Contents has been generated for the HTML
version.]

Contents

A RUNAWAY.

THE TWO DOGS BEGAN TO FIGHT.

THE TWO DOGS BEGAN TO FIGHT.
THE LITTLE BOY PICKED UP A STICK.

THE LITTLE BOY PICKED UP A STICK.

A GREEDY BEAR.
IN MISCHIEF.
CANOE BOYS.
WINTER FUN.
MR. AND MRS. ANTELOPE AND THE BABIES.
THE CLIFF-DWELLERS AND THEIR PETS.
THE BURRO RACE.
LEARNING TO SHOOT.
LITTLE BIRD, THE NAVAJO SHEPHERD BOY.
LITTLE BEAVER AND THE TAME CROWS.
BRIGHT-EYES AND HIS PUMA KITTENS.
HODGSKA MAKES A VISIT.
PLAYING AT MOVING HOUSE.
THE WAR DANCE.
TAKING CARE OF THE PONIES.
THE BABIES AND THE WOODPECKERS.
HOW THE PUEBLO BOYS WERE FRIGHTENED.

A RUNAWAY.

Once, after an arickara Indian mother had finished all her packing, as they were going to move camp, she fixed a travois
on her big dog and placed her baby in the basket. Then all was ready and they were about to start, when a great, ugly
black dog came along, and the two dogs began to fight.

The squaw whipped them apart, and after she had quieted her poor little baby boy, who had been very much
frightened, she put him back into his little carriage, and soon the Indians started.

The squaw walked beside the dog to guide him and, also, to
amuse her baby. Indian babies play with little dolls made of
buckskin, with long buckskin fringe for hair. If a feather is placed
in the dolly's hair the babies think it is beautifully dressed.

The baby of our story was having a lovely time with his dolly and
so his mother thought she would just drop back and have a little
chat with another Indian mother while the baby was good.

She
had

hardly
turned

around, when that naughty dog saw a great big jack rabbit, just
ahead, and thought it would make a delicious dinner. Off he
started. He jumped right through the rough sage brush, and the
poor baby rolled out. His mother was afraid he would be badly
hurt, but he was only frightened. When the squaw caught the
naughty dog again, she tied a rope around his neck and kept tight
hold of it, so he couldn't play another trick on her.

When the Indians stopped and camped, the little boy picked up a
stick and whipped that dog as hard as he could for treating him so
badly during the day's traveling.

TRYING TO FIND SOME GRUBS FOR HER BABIES.

DRAG HIM HOME TO HIS TAN-TSI-DAY.

DRAG HIM HOME TO HIS TAN-TSI-DAY.

A GREEDY BEAR.

Once there was a little pueblo Indian boy and his father was one of the best hunters in the village. One morning he went
out into the mountains to shoot deer, the meat of which was to be dried for the winter supply.

He was walking very carefully, as he would have frightened the game away if he had made a noise.

Suddenly he heard a sound as if a mama bear were scolding a cub for being selfish. He looked, and there, indeed, was
an old she-bear turning over stones and trying to find some grubs for her babies.

The Indian shot the mama bear and one of the cubs scampered
off as fast as he could go, but the hunter caught the other little
bear and tied a horse-hair rope tight around the little fellow's
neck, so he could drag him home to his little tan-tsi-day.

The two became very good friends, and when tan-tsi-day's
mother brought a bowl of porridge to her baby, she always put
in enough for the baby bear too.

One day the baby bear was naughty, and when tan-tsi-day's
mother had gone into the house, he took the bowl and ate all the
porridge himself, and didn't give his little playfellow any.

The baby
was very
much surprised, and called his Indian mother.

Do you know how she punished the selfish little bear? When the
next meal-time came, she just brought enough of the good
porridge for her tan-tsi-day, and made that naughty bear eat
with the puppies. I think baby bear won't be such a greedy little
fellow when allowed to eat with his little companion again.

HE HID BEHIND A BAKE OVEN.

HE HID BEHIND A BAKE OVEN.

REACH THE TOP OF HIS POLE.

IN MISCHIEF.

The naughty bear had been kept away from his playfellow for some time, and as the two loved one another so much, it
made them both feel very sad.

One day the Indian mother went out to visit, and baby bear saw her go. "Now," thought he, "I will see my little friend,
and, if I am a very good little bear, perhaps his mother will let us play together again."

Baby bear crept along very carefully, and when he thought the
mother was not looking he hid behind a bake oven and almost
had his first accident, for tan-tsi-day's mother had left one of her
best jars standing there with herbs to dry.

When the mother had got out of sight the baby bear marched
into the adobe home of his friend, and then the two companions
were glad.

But baby bear and tan-tsi-day saw the jars with all the good
things in them, and then they forgot to try to be good.

They ate the dried berries and
sweet roots; tipped the jars
and baskets to see if any

goodies were in them; and when they had eaten all they wanted, sat just as close to
each other as possible and went fast asleep.

After a while the mother came home, and when she saw those two fast asleep, the
jars broken, and all her good things spilled over the floor, she became very angry and
started to whip them.

Baby bear wakened up and ran as fast as his clumsy little legs would let him; but he
didn't reach the top of his pole before the Indian mother had given him a good
switching.

THE BEARS FIND THE SAP.

THE BEARS FIND THE SAP.

CANOE BOYS.

Little chippeway Indian boys have lots of good times. In the spring they help their fathers and big brothers to make
maple sugar. They watch the birch-bark troughs and, when one is full of sap, carry and empty it into a big kettle over a
fire to boil down.

Often the bears find the sap during the night, and, as they like sweets very much, drink it all; and the little boys are
disappointed in the morning, when they go around with their birch-bark buckets, to find it all gone. Sometimes the bears
try to steal the boiling syrup, and then they get their paws badly burned for trying to be thieves.

In summer, the boys love to swim and play in the little lakes that are so
numerous in the region of their home. One afternoon a number of boys got
into a canoe and paddled, and as many other boys waded out into one of
the shallow lakes to have some fun. The boys in the water were to try and
take the canoe away from the boys that were inside. Oh, how hard the two
sides worked, one to keep the boat right side up, and the other side to
capture it; for if they tipped the canoe and spilled all the boys out they gained
the victory, and would get in and see if they could hold it. They splashed the
water in all directions, and when one boy fell or was pulled out of the boat,
didn't he get a good ducking! The little dog helped all he could by barking
very loud and trying to frighten the boys in the water.

They played until it was so dark they had to stop and go home.

Their houses, canoes, baskets, buckets and various other things, are made
out of the bark of the birch tree.

Whenever any of the chippeway Indians want to go visiting, they always go in canoes when possible, for they are canoe
Indians and almost live in their boats. They seldom go visiting on horseback as most other tribes do.

THEY ALWAYS GO IN CANOES.

THEY ALWAYS GO IN CANOES.

A LITTLE BOY WAS WALKING OVER
THE SNOW ONE DAY, ON HIS SNOW-

SHOES.

THROWING STICKS OVER THE SNOW
TO SEE WHICH COULD MAKE THEM

SLIDE FARTHEST.

WINTER FUN.

The little assiniboin Indian boys had a great deal of snow in winter, and, as they have no sleds as white boys have, they
took buffalo ribs and slid down hill on them.

A little boy was walking over the snow one day, on his snow-shoes, when he
thought what fun it would be, if the boys would all go over on the hill and
slide. He walked through the village, playing he was the town crier, and called
all the little boys out on the hill to slide.

They all took their buffalo ribs and went out, and the little girls—some who
had babies on their backs, and some who were only playing—and even the
mothers and grandmothers went along to see how much fun the boys were
going to have.

Some of the boys fastened the
buffalo ribs on their feet, while
others made little sleds by
fastening the ribs together and
making cross pieces of wood.
Then they started at the top of the
hill and came down, one after the
other, shouting and laughing while
other boys threw snow at them.

Several times they went down the hill without any accident, and they were
beginning to think nothing could throw them. They all ran up the hill for
another long slide, the first one up was to be the first to start. One started
right after the other, and as the first one was nearly at the bottom of the hill
he lost his balance and over he went. The other boys were close behind
him, and as each one came he went over, and the boys and girls, who were
watching thought that was more fun for them than the sliding had been. Even

the three companions who had been throwing sticks over the snow to see which could make them slide farthest,
stopped their game to see how the boys were piled on top of one another.

MR. AND MRS. ANTELOPE AND THE BABIES.

One bright, sunny day, Mr. and Mrs. Antelope took little Baby Antelope out for a run. They knew where to find a
lovely feeding-ground, so that their baby could have a good dinner of nice young grass.

Mr. and Mrs. Antelope were walking along very quietly; but the baby was so pleased to get out, that she gamboled far
away, and frisked about.

Pretty soon she came running back very much frightened and said, "Oh Mamma and Papa Antelope, do come with me!
I have seen some of the queerest little animals over near that tree, and I don't know what they are."

MR. AND MRS. ANTELOPE TOOK LITTLE BABY

ANTELOPE OUT FOR A RUN.

Mr. and Mrs. Antelope became very much worried, because they thought perhaps their little one had seen one of those
animals that walk on two legs and carry a long iron stick that can hit and kill them from afar. As Mr. and Mrs. Antelope
are very curious people, they wanted to see what their baby meant. Can you guess what they saw? Leaning against the
tree were two queer little animals. Mr. and Mrs. Antelope thought hard and looked very keenly; but they had never
seen such animals before.

Weren't Mr. and Mrs. Antelope funny? They didn't know that if they stayed much longer, a sioux Indian mother would
come out from the bushes where she was picking berries and frighten them away from her little baby and then she
would have to scold her daughter tom-be for falling asleep and not taking better care of her baby brother.

SOMETIMES THEY WENT OUT TO HUNT WILD

TURKEYS.

THE CLIFF-DWELLERS AND THEIR PETS.

A long time ago, before the white people came to live here, the cochiti Indians used to live in houses made by hollowing
deep holes into the north side of the deep cañons. They built their houses to face the south, because it was warmer in
winter when the fierce north wind came over the mountains to see what damage he could do. Instead of finding houses
to go into, he could only blow against the mountains.

The little boys used to climb down the sides of the cliffs from their homes, and play in the warm sunshine with their tame
foxes and make them jump for dried meat.

Sometimes they took their bows and arrows and went out to hunt wild
turkeys in the arroyos, or deep gullies around their homes.

At night the foxes found a warm place in some house that had been deserted,
perhaps because the opening had grown too large and the sand had drifted in,
or perhaps because it was not sheltered enough from the snow in winter. The
boys would climb to their own houses.

In those days, the men
and boys had to watch
from high places to
warn the people of the
approach of any of
their enemies, because
the navajo and apache
Indians troubled the
pueblo Indians a great deal in olden times.

As long as the watchers could see no enemy, the women used to
carry water from the river—which was quite far away—gather
wood and till little patches of ground, but as soon as the enemy
came down upon them, they looked for water in wells dug into
the rock to hold the rain when it fell. This water was always

saved for cases of this kind.

WHILE BO-PING'S DOG BARKED AT HIS HEELS.

THE BOYS WERE TURNING SOMERSAULTS OVER

HIS HEAD.

THE BURRO RACE.

tom-ō-ping was a little pueblo Indian boy and one day his father said to him, "tom-ō-ping take my big black burro over
to the cañon to feed." tom-ō-ping didn't say, "wait a minute" to his father, but jumped right on his burro.

As he was going through the pueblo, he met his three
companions, a-go-ya, tō-a and bo-ping. tom-ō-ping did not like
to go alone, so he asked two of his little friends to jump on
behind him while the third ran along as best he could, and they
would all get their own burros and have a race. The boys did not
have to be asked twice, so they jumped on behind tom-ō-ping
and then, as they were anxious to get to racing, they all tried to
hurry the poor old burro along by kicking him in the ribs while
bo-ping's dog barked at his heels. Mr. Burro was tired and
wouldn't endure that long: so in a moment he was standing on his
fore-legs and the three boys were turning somersaults over his

head, while the dog was kicked high in the air. The boys jumped upon his back again and this time were more patient,
so they finally reached the cañon where the donkeys were feeding in safety.

The three waited for their friend to come and then each boy
caught his own little animal, and as tō-a was the eldest boy he
gave the signal to start. one! two!! three!!! and off they went
over fields and prairie, down the old trail and through the sage
brush, shouting and laughing and urging their little steeds along.
First bo-ping was a little ahead, and then he was glad, for he had
been telling how well his little donkey could go. Then the others
whipped their small animals a little harder for none wanted to be
beaten. How they did go! You never saw four little donkeys go
faster. At last the race came to an end, and the little children,
who had gathered to see the finish, clapped their hands and
laughed as tō-a, who was a favorite with them all, came in just a
little ahead of his companions.

GAVE HIS LITTLE SON A TINY BOW.

ABLE TO SHOOT RABBITS.

ABLE TO SHOOT RABBITS.

LEARNING TO SHOOT.

Indian fathers are just as proud of their little sons as white fathers are of theirs.

One day, a crow Indian chief came in from the mountains, where he had been
hunting and said to his little son: "Now, my little warrior, you are getting to be
a big boy, you must grow up to be a big chief of your tribe. You must learn to
shoot and be brave so that when you grow up, you will earn a name, and
your people will love you."

The father gave his little son a tiny bow and some arrows, and taking him by
the hand, called his little dog and went out to see what they could find to
shoot at. Just outside of the tepees, were some bushes where the magpies
had gathered and were chattering together, enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

Magpies are very inquisitive birds, and
when they saw the little hunter, come
along with his dog and his father, one of
the little birds jumped down from the
bush and hopped over to see what they
were going to do. The father thought this

was a good chance for his boy, so he got down on the ground to instruct him. The
little fellow shot, and do you know he killed one of those birds!

Then the father was just as proud as his little boy. The little fellow picked up the
bird, and then off he started for home. His mother was sitting in the tepee making
her little son a new pair of moccasins, and when he came in and threw the bird over
for her to see, she was as much pleased as her boy, for soon he would be able to
shoot rabbits and other game for her to cook for his dinner.

LITTLE BIRD, THE NAVAJO SHEPHERD BOY.

Little bird was a little navajo boy, whose papa had given him a dear little pony, because he took such good care of the
sheep.

When little bird went out with his papa's flock of sheep, he always took some goats along to help keep the flock
together and drive off wolves or bears. little bird, on his pony's back, would watch, and the goats would climb on the
rocks where they could see a long distance. One day, while they were watching, little bird fell asleep, on his pony's
back. He didn't think there were any wolves or bears about; but soon he was dreaming that he heard the sheep making
a great noise, and when he awoke, he saw that they were very much frightened and that the goats were marching
toward the cañon.

What do you think he saw? A
great, black bear holding a dear
little lamb in his arms.

LITTLE BEAVER AND THE TAME CROWS.

One day as little beaver was playing on the prairie before his mother's tepee, he saw his father coming across an arroyo
from a hunting trip he had taken. little beaver looked very intently, for on top of one of the pack horses, he saw two
black things flapping their wings.

As soon as his father had got home and the things were
unpacked, he said, "Come, my little warrior, I want to tell you a
story." As soon as his little boy was on his knees he said: "While
I was riding through the woods, I heard something say, 'Caw,
Caw.' At first, I didn't see where it was and then I wished I had
my little bright-eyed boy, for he could see. By and by it said
'Caw, Caw,' again and then, looking up, I saw an old mother
crow standing on a limb, with a little crow on each side of her. I
shot the mother and then climbed the tree and captured these
two little crows and brought them home to my boy."

little beaver was very much pleased, and he used to play a
great deal with these two new pets.

Not long after, when the crows had grown quite big and
mischievous, little beaver sat outside of the tepee on the
ground, to eat some dinner. The crows saw him and came
running over to him. While little beaver tried to frighten one
away the other would try to steal his meat and they kept it up
quite a while until the little boy whipped them away. Then the
crows felt very mournful to think they had been beaten, and
walked away with their heads drooping, as if they knew
enough to be ashamed of what they had tried to do.

SOME INDIAN BOYS ENJOY TEASING THEIR PETS.

BRIGHT-EYES AND HIS PUMA KITTENS.

Indian boys have very queer pets; they capture bear cubs, puma or mountain lion kittens, and various other young
animals of the forest and tame them. The boys like to play with these strange pets, as much as little white boys love to
play with puppies or kittens.

Some Indian boys, just like the white boys, enjoy teasing their
pets, which is very wrong as it makes the animals very angry,
and often the boys are punished beyond their expectation for
their naughtiness.

bright-eyes was a little pawnee boy, who had two pretty little
puma kittens, of which he was very proud, and when he did not
tease or make them angry they would let him fondle and caress
them just as you would a kitten.

One day bright-eyes was sitting on a blanket under a tree
playing with his kittens, when two of his friends came along. He
asked them to stop and they did, because bright-eyes seemed to
be having such a good time with his pets.

The other boys did not play as gently as bright-eyes had done,
and began teasing the kittens. They became very angry and wild.
They scratched at the boys and tried to bite them, and if bright-
eyes had been alone he would have fared very badly because he
could not have beaten his wild pets off, but the other boys were
older and they succeeded in quieting them enough to lead them
away and tie them up.

The kittens never trusted bright-eyes again as they did before,
and the little fellow felt very sad. His father did not trust him with
his pets either, and after that always kept the kittens tied even
though bright-eyes promised not to make them angry any more.

HAD TO PULL UP HIS FEET TO KEEP HIS

MOCCASINS DRY.

HE SAW TWO PRETTY DEER.

HE SAW TWO PRETTY DEER.

HODGSKA MAKES A VISIT.

I will tell you of a little red boy going visiting, and perhaps you can fancy why he liked it so much.

One day a crow Indian mother called her little boy, hodgska, and told him to get dressed and she would take him to see
his grandfather. hodgska was delighted. He came running in, and his mother put a pretty red breech-clout on him,
braided his hair neatly, and then painted the part in his hair red, and hodgska was ready to start.

The horses were all ready, too. The mother's saddle was all
decorated with bright colored flannel and pretty bead work, and
hodgska had a bright blanket thrown over his horse's back. The
mother rode in front because she had to lead the way. They
followed an old trail for awhile, and hodgska was disappointed
because he didn't think that was fun. Then off in the distance he
saw a river, and oh how he wished they would have to cross it!

hodgska was delighted when they really started to cross. In
splashed the horses, and the water kept getting deeper and
deeper until it came so high that the little boy had to pull up his
feet to keep his moccasins dry.

After the river had been forded they had to climb over a mountain, and
hodgska was glad he had brought his bow and arrows because he might
be able to shoot something to take to his grandfather. They rode very
quietly, and little hodgska tried to ride especially quiet because he knew if
he made much noise he would frighten the game. Soon he heard a little
noise in the brush and looking over he saw two pretty deer, but they saw
him, too, and ran off just as fast as they could.

hodgska heard the little birds chattering and calling to one another and he
saw a bear, but he found nothing he could shoot; so he had to meet his
grandfather without being able to show what a hunter he had become.